Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – Equinor has started production started from the Troll Phase 3 project in the North Sea.
The project has a breakeven price below $10 and CO2 emissions of less than 0.1 kg/boe. The new wells are tied in to the Troll A platform, and Troll Phase 3 will extend the platform’s life past 2050.
Recoverable volumes from Troll Phase 3, which will produce the Troll West gas cap, are estimated at 2.2 Bboe. Investments are about NOK 8 billion ($924 million).
The plan for development and operation, approved in December 2018, involves eight wells in two templates, a new 36-in. pipeline and umbilical connecting the templates to Troll A as well as a new gas processing module on the platform. Following further compression, the gas will be exported via existing infrastructure.
Around 70% of the deliveries to the project come from Norwegian suppliers, Equinor said.
The original start-up date for the project was 2Q 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19-related labor shortages and infection control measures.
Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice president of Projects, Drilling and Procurement, said: “Troll Phase 3 is one of the most profitable projects throughout Equinor’s entire history, while at the same time featuring production with record-low CO2 emissions. This is thanks to large gas reserves and a development solution mostly based on existing infrastructure, such as pipelines, the processing plant at Kollsnes and, not least, the Troll A platform which receives power from shore.”
The Troll partners are Equinor (operator), Petoro, Shell, TotalEnergies, and ConocoPhillips.
(Video courtesy Equinor)
According to Equinor, Troll is Norway’s largest gas producer. After more than 20 years of production, 65% of the gas has still not been recovered.
The annual export volume from Troll is equivalent to about 8% of the EU’s gas consumption.
In 1996, Troll A became the first platform on the Norwegian continental shelf to be electrified.
Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s executive vice president for Exploration and Production Norway, said: “Troll Phase 3 will extend the life of Troll A and the Kollsnes processing plant beyond 2050, and the plateau period by five to seven years. This will help secure jobs offshore, at Sandsli and at Kollsnes for both Equinor and its suppliers for several decades into the future.”
08/30/2021
